


The Guilt

by GratefulLurkingAnon



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Cold, Fever, Gen, Illness, Injury, sick, sneeze
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-16
Updated: 2018-05-16
Packaged: 2019-05-07 20:26:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14678862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GratefulLurkingAnon/pseuds/GratefulLurkingAnon





	The Guilt

Gwen was in the town, buying some groceries and the kids had tied David to a flag pole again. It had began to rain and the cold wind was blowing , making David’s nose run and him to shiver violently. When he saw the car’s headlights, he sighed relieved. Gwen was coming back and he would finally be released.     

   “What the fuck, again?” Gwen snapped when she stepped out of the car.

  “Gwend…” David said with bright, teary eyes.

   “Okay, this time they went way too far,” Gwen told, walking closer to David while getting a tissue out of her purse. She wiped David’s face clean and helped him to blow his nose. She didn’t want to keep holding on the snotty tissue so she simply threw it on the ground, next to the mesh hall’s wall so it could be picked up and took to the trash later. First, she had to free David.

   The topmost knots were on David’s chest so Gwen was facing him while untying them. David felt his nose itching. “G-Gwend…  M-mbove, I-hah- ” he tried to warn Gwen while holding back a sneeze. But before Gwen had time to react to his warning, David let out a wet, loud sneeze.

   “Great…” Gwen mumbled. She had David’s snot on her hair.

  “I-I’mb-sniff-so s-sorry,” David apologized.

   “It’s the brats who should be sorry, ” Gwen told, continuing to open  the knots.

 

The campers were partying at the mesh hall. But their party came to an end when the door was slammed open and angry Gwen stormed in, followed by miserable, soaked David. The kids knew they were in trouble.

   “KIDS, WE DO NOT TIE PEOPLE IN FLAGPOLES AND LEAVE THEM OUT IN RAINSTORMS! NO DESSERT FOR ANY OF YOU FOR A WEEK!” Gwen yelled.

    “G-gwend…” David started.

   “Shut up David, it’s because you’re being too soft on them they treat you like shit! Kids, you should be ashamed of yourselves-”

   “N-ndo, G-gwend I-” David stuttered.

   Gwen was about to continue her lecturing but heard a soft thump behind her and saw the terrified looks on children’s faces. She turned around and saw David lying on the ground.  She knelt down and touched David’s cheek. He was ice cold. “Shit.”

   “Did we finally kill David?” Max asked.

   “Max, that’s not funny,” Gwen told checking David’s pulse. To her relieve, it was nearly normal. But she needed to get David warmed up quickly. Gwen lifted David up, gave an angry glance at the kids and told: “I’m not finished with you yet.”

  The kids rarely felt guilty over teasing or hurting David but this time, they did. “I kinda feel bad for David…” Nikki told.

   “Maybe we really went too far this time…” Neil said.

   Max didn’t say anything. He was more shocked than he thought he would’ve been. They had never meant to leave David out in the rain for that long. It had not been even raining yet when they tied David up and they had lost the sense of time while having fun.

 

Gwen had changed David’s clothes and tucked him in the bed with hot water bottles. When David woke up, Gwen made him drink some hot tea.

   “You almost gave me a heart attack,” Gwen told.

   “Sorry,” David apologized, smiling slightly.

   “No, I’m sorry. I should have paid attention to you instead of raging at the kids. I was just so angry…” Gwen replied.

   “I’m sure kids didn’t mean this to happen,” David said.

   “They still should be more considerate towards other people. You could have frozen to death,” Gwen told.

   “I’m fine now,” David assured.

   “Good. This means I can finally finish my talk with those brats,” Gwen told, cracking her knuckles.

   “Um, can I decide their punishment?” David asked.

   “What, you actually WANT give them a punishment?” Gwen said unable to believe her ears.

   “Yes,” David told, with a determined look on his face.

 

“Since you kids were behaving badly yesterday, as for your punishment…” David started sternly then finished by saying cheerfully: “You’re not getting a punishment! But a reward instead!”

    “What..?” Gwen asked grumpily.

   “We are going for a nice, day-long hike!” David told happily.

   “WHAT?!” Gwen yelled, getting seriously pissed off.

   “Yep, sure sounds like a punishment alright,” Max told.

   “I saved you and you’re punishing me too?” Gwen asked.

   “I told you it’s not a punishment, I just figured out the kids should think over what they did and what’s better way to do that than walking in the forest, listening the sounds of nature?” David replied.

   Gwen sighed. Since the kids seemed to be so displeased with the idea, she figured out it would actually be the perfect punishment for them. Though she had preferred not to be included on that punishment, but if it made the kids learn their lesson, it would save her from lot of trouble in the future. “Fine,” she told.

   “Okay, let’s pack our bags and go! ” David told happily.

 

Even though the sun had been shining the whole morning, some spots in the forest were still wet and slippery so David had told the kids to stay on the path and watch their steps. After two hours walk, they took a break and sat down to eat their packed lunches at the lake’s shore.  Then, they continued their way deeper into the forest.

   “Hey Max, I bet that pile of rocks has some snakes in it, let’s go check them out,” Nikki whispered.

   “Yeah, sure, why not,” Max told.

   When Gwen and David were not paying attention to them, Max, Nikki and Neil snuck away from the rest of the group. Nikki climbed up the rocky hill like a little monkey, Neil and Max followed her slowly.

   “Wow, I was right! These snakes are feisty! Let’s make them our pets!” Nicky rejoiced.

   “Let’s put them in David’s b-” Max told mischievously but his sentence got cut when he slipped. His right foot got caught between the rocks and he managed to break his fall with his hands. But his foot hurt like hell.

   “Max, are you okay?” Neil asked.

   Max’s eyes were getting wet from the pain.

   “Should I go to get David or Gwen?” Neil asked, now with a more worried tone.

   “Hell no,” Max replied. He pulled his leg out and started climbing back down. His right foot was too sore to walk on and Neil had to help him walk. To make things worse, David had found them and was running towards them. “Fuck.”

    “What… Happened…?” David asked out of breath.

    “Nothing, go away,” Max told. He tried to stand on his own but the pain was too much to bear. “OUCH, FUCK!”

   “Let me see your foot,” David told. Max sat down and David carefully removed his shoe and sock. The ankle had swollen, Max had probably sprained his leg. After performing some first aid, David told: “Okay, get on my back, I’ll carry you back to the camp. Nikki and Neil, you two get back to the rest of the group and tell Gwen what happened.”

   “Yes sir,” Nikki told.

   “Sorry Max, I need to put some items on your backpack since I can’t carry two bags it and you.  Neil and Nikki, take my bag to Gwen,” David told, packing his water bottle, cell phone, Swiss Army knife and some snacks in Max’s backpack, then handed his own backpack to Neil.

   Max put the backpack on, then climbed on David’s back and they started heading back to the campsite.

 

For about fifteen minutes, both David and Max stayed quiet, without saying a word to each other. David had warned them about the forest being slippery and told them to be careful but Max had not listened. Still, wasn’t this kinda David’s fault too? He was in charge of them and even though he knew the forest was slippery after yesterday’s rain, he had forced them on a walk anyways.

    “I’m not going to say I’m sorry,” Max finally told.

   “Okay,” David replied.

    Max could hear him sniffling. “Are you crying again?” Max sneered.

   “No?” David told, sounding a bit confused. Suddenly, he stopped walking. “KSHTSHIUH!” he sneezed.

   Max felt his chest getting tighter as the feeling of guilt got stronger. “Did you… Catch a cold?”

   “Aw, are you worried about me?” David asked, happy for Max showing some concern towards him.

   “No. I just don’t want to catch it from you if you do,” Max told. Well, that was true too, but he was already feeling guilty enough over having David carry him back to the camp because he got hurt doing something he was especially told not to do and if David had caught a cold because of the stunt they pulled off yesterday well… Max was not heartless, anyone would feel guilty over that.

   “Well, it can’t be helped, you can’t really walk on your own, can you?” David replied. He was avoiding the subject.

   “If I was you, I’d just leave me in the forest after all the shit I did…” Max mumbled.

   “No you wouldn’t. You’re not a bad kid Max,” David replied.

   Max blushed. He had thought David couldn’t hear him.

  Even though Max wasn’t really all that heavy, the heat and the incipient head cold had slowly started to take toll on David, making him feel light-headed. He put Max down and told: “Let’s have a break.”

  Max stared David while David was gulping down the water. David’s face was red and sweaty, no wonder though, since he had been carrying Max in this heat. It was hard to believe it had been kinda chilly just yesterday. David sneezed again. Max was starting to get a little worried. What if David was really sick and he would faint, what would Max do then? Max couldn’t put any weight on his right foot so he couldn’t really walk on his own. They were probably going the same route back so the others would find them eventually.

   “Okay, let’s go,” David told, ready to carry Max again.

 

The longer David carried Max, the more he needed breaks.  When they finally arrived back to the camp, David was shaking and out of breath.  Max got off his back and limbed inside the mesh hall. David leaned against the door and slumped down, gasping for breath.

   “Dude, are you alright?” Max asked.

   “Ice… We ndeed to-cough-apply sombe…Ice…To your… Foot…” David told, making no effort to try to get up.

   “I’ll go get it,” Max told. He basically skipped across the room on one foot. He took out a bag of ice out of the freezer, then a juice pouch from the fridge. He returned with his loot back to David. “Here, drink this,” Max told, handing out the juice to David.

    “Thandks-sniff-A-apply the ice…” David told.

   “Yeah yeah, on the swollen area, see, I’m doing it,” Max told, sitting on the floor, the ice pack on his right foot.

   David smiled and tried to push the straw in the juice but kept missing the hole the straw was supposed to go in. His hands were shaking too much.

   After watching David’s desperate attempts to get the straw in, Max grabbed the drink and the straw away from David, poked the straw in and handed the drink back to David.

   “Thandks…” David replied.

   “You sound like shit,” Max noted.

   “Haha, sorry,” David laughed meekly.

   That was the last straw. ”What the fuck YOU are sorry for?! I tied you to a flag pole yesterday, I made you to catch a dumb cold and I didn’t listen what you told me to do and got hurt and you had to carry me here and I- ughh- I….” Max yelled and ended up fighting off tears.

  “Mbax-cough-It’s okay…” David started.

   “NO IT’S NOT OKAY!” Max screamed.”Are you trying to make me feel guilty on purpose or something…?” Max asked, then covered his eyes with his hoodie’s sleeve. Suddenly, arms appeared around him.

   “It’s finde. You are ndot a bad kid…” David told.

   Max calmed down a little. David was hot and wet from sweat so being in his embrace was a bit unpleasant. “Okay, get off,” Max told and pushed David away.

   “Mh, feel better ndow?” David asked his eyes closed.

   “Sorry…” Max told quietly. David smiled a bit but didn’t reply anything.“I bet Gwen’s gonna be super mad at me,” Max mumbled.

   “Mbe too,” David said.

   “You’re… Mad at me?” Max asked.

   “Ndo-sniff-Gwend’s goi’gg to be mbad… At mbe…” David told.

 

They both had been right. When Gwen returned, she started by nagging at Max but when she helped David up, she started telling him how stupid his idea of a hike had been and he should have not tried to carry Max back to the camp himself if he knew he was not feeling well. “Max, stay here, I’m going to take you to a hospital to be checked-up, just in case, as soon as I get David to the be- Actually, I think we should take him with us,” Gwen told.

   “Dond’ worry-sniff-I’mb finde…” David said.

   “The fuck you are, you can’t walk on your own,” Gwen told. “Quarter Master, look after the kids while we’re gone.”

   Gwen placed David on the back seat, then went back to get Max. She was still mad at them and kept mumbling angrily while driving.

   Max kept staring out of the window, looking bored. When they came to a curve on the road, something slumped on Max. “Ugh, David, get off…” Max mumbled and tried to push David off but David was fast asleep. Sulkily, Max just accepted being leant on.

 

“It’s just a sprain, it should get better in one or two weeks. Keep applying ice on it and avoid putting weight on the foot,” the doctor told.

   “Thank god it’s not broken,” Gwen sighed.

   Max and Gwen got out of the doctor’s room and sat down to wait for David. Max was getting impatient, it felt like they had been waiting forever. Then finally, David stepped out.

   “What did they say?” Gwen asked.

   “That I’mb and idiot,” David told and coughed on his hand. In his other hand he was holding a prescription and medical certificate.

   “I guess I’d make a good doctor then,” Max sneered.

    “Okay let me see that,” Gwen told, and grabbed the papers David was holding. After reading them, she said: “Yep, the doctor was right, you are an idiot, let’s go to buy the medicine and get back to the camp.”

  


End file.
